Lack of social capital a barrier for Malay community despite signs of rising educational mobility: Study

SINGAPORE – Structural and social barriers continue to hinder the upward mobility of the Malay community, a study has found, even amid strong education and occupational progress among some families.

The report, titled Intergenerational Mobility Within The Malay Community In Singapore, found that 79 per cent of respondents have surpassed the educational levels of their parents.

Some 73.4 per cent of respondents also reported feeling financially better off than their parents were at the same age.

About 90 per cent of those surveyed were employed in professional, manager, executive and technician – or PMET – roles, compared with 37.8 per cent in their grandparents’ generation.

But the study, conducted by the Centre for Research on Islamic and Malay Affairs (RIMA), suggests that while some in the community have attained higher academic qualifications, “social capital deficit” remains.

Social capital refers to the resources and advantages one draws from their social relationships, including access to information, trust and recognition.

The study said: “Those with stronger social capital, such as access to mentors, professional family members or industry networks, were better able to navigate educational and career pathways, while others relied primarily on formal qualifications and personal effort.”

The findings, released on May 12, are based on a survey and interviews conducted between October 2024 and January 2025.

Researchers looked at the trajectories of three generations – grandparents, parents and respondents – through a survey of 267 respondents, more than half of whom were below the age of 40. The study also included in-depth interviews with 33 respondents, with two-thirds aged below 40.

The researchers noted that the study was conducted primarily among participants from the networks and events of RIMA and its parent organisation, AMP Singapore. As such, the findings may reflect more the perspectives of Malays with higher educational attainment within these specific networks than those of the broader community.

At the national level, the Government has said it wants to strengthen Singapore’s social compact. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in September 2025 pledged to “broaden meritocracy” to keep the escalator of mobility moving, after President Tharman Shanmugaratnam identified social mobility as a top priority for the new term of government.

Researchers observed that many respondents remain clustered in stable, service-based sectors such as education (17.2 per cent), health and social services (16.4 per cent), and public administration (12.9 per cent). They remain underrepresented in high-growth, high-wage industries such as financial and insurance services (4.7 per cent) and information and communications (8.6 per cent).

National data also reflects these gaps. The RIMA report cited figures from Census 2020 showing that Malay households had a median income of $5,704 – 26 per cent below the national median of $7,744. The community is also 104 per cent more likely to reside in one- and two-room rental flats than a decade ago.

The educational gap also persists at the highest levels. As at 2020, only 10.8 per cent of the Malay community had obtained a university degree, compared with the national average of 33 per cent.

Researchers also found a “return deficit”, where respondents reported that their investments in education or training did not yield equal rewards in the form of wages, job security or career progression.

Some respondents, despite holding relevant qualifications and experience, said they “felt they had to work harder to prove their competence, while others felt they were overlooked for hiring or promotion opportunities despite meeting professional requirements”.

To address these barriers, researchers recommended institutionalising mentorship for first-generation graduates, strengthening career guidance towards high-growth sectors, and fostering more inclusive workplace cultures to reduce the “return deficit”.

Still, the study pointed to signs of upward mobility across generations. While nearly one in five of their grandparents had no formal schooling, every respondent had completed formal education.

Among respondents, 40.1 per cent held a bachelor’s degree, 19.5 per cent had a master’s degree and 2.2 per cent had earned a PhD.

By comparison, among the parental generation, 7.9 per cent held bachelor’s degrees, 3.4 per cent had master’s degrees and 0.4 per cent had PhDs. University education was rare among the grandparent generation, with only 1.5 per cent attaining a bachelor’s degree and none holding postgraduate qualifications.

Overall, 79 per cent of respondents achieved higher educational levels than their parents. This was similar to the previous generation, where 70 per cent of parents had outpaced the educational levels of the grandparents. More than half of the respondents surveyed experienced consistent upward educational mobility across all three generations.

Ms Sabrina Hardy, acting centre manager at RIMA and one of the researchers involved in the study, said the findings showed “a section of the Malay community has made clear strides in educational and occupational mobility across generations despite historical and cumulative disadvantages”.

She added that the study underscores the importance of enablers like social capital, where access to networks can greatly influence the translation of skills and education into meaningful career advancements.

Ms Sabrina said that these findings are not intended to be representative of the entire Malay community but rather, provide a “snapshot of intergenerational mobility experiences among participants”, and that they offer indicative insights into emerging patterns, rather than exist as a definitive conclusion.

“While the data cannot be generalised to the entire Malay community, the trends observed, particularly the strong upward mobility from generation to generation, can be seen as an encouraging signal of progress,” she said.

Correction note: An earlier version of this article stated that the Malay community is 104 per cent more likely to live in one or two-room rental flats than the national average, and the national average for university degree holders as 33.7 per cent. These figures have been corrected to reflect the increase from a decade ago and a national average of 33 per cent.